Provision of Costs of Loan Guarantees For Ukraine

Floor Speech

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Mr. HASTINGS of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of this legislation, which is a beginning step, and which I hope we will follow with all that we can to assist those Ukrainians who are courageous and forward leaning to be about the business of determining their own fate. I had the good fortune of being an election monitor immediately after the Orange Revolution, and I spent a lot of time talking to the people there. What I learned, if nothing more, is that they do have the courage of their convictions.

What I want us to do, and what I beg my colleagues that speak about this matter to understand, is that it is extremely complex. It is nothing that you can put on a bumper sticker, and it is unfair to President Obama for people to take to this floor and allow that he is ``leading from behind,'' as I just heard a Member say. What that Member needs to understand is that it is not easy to make a determination in these kinds of matters. Whereas Putin is a dictator, Obama is in a democracy.

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